Snow

I am greatly enjoying the book, Snow, by Orhan Pamuk.  He writes beautifully and the descriptions of life in a bleak Turkish outpost are superb, as are the internal meditations of the flawed but admirable protagonist, Ka.  At one point, Ka witnesses the murder of a school administrator by a radical for the administrator's decision to bar women from attending school with their headscarves.  The transcript of the extended exchange (the administrator had been wearing a tape recorder) between killer and victim is memorable -- beginning very politely but gradually and inexorably becoming absolutely terrifying.  My colleague and friend, Mark Movsesian, has a nice review of the book here.  I highly recommend the book.